Plummer Returns to Strand Screen as Barrymore

Monday, November 12, 2012 - 10:30am

The Strand presents a special HD event, BARRYMORE, Saturday, November 17 at 2:30pm. Christopher Plummer stars inan unforgettable portrayal of legendary actor John Barrymore, a man of colossal talent and contradictions and one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of all time.

The year is 1942, what will be the final year of Barrymore's life. No longer a leading box office star, the film finds the actor reckoning with the ravages of his life of excess. He has rented a grand old theatre to rehearse for a backer’s audition to raise money for a revival of his 1920 Broadway triumph in Richard III. It leads him to look back on the highs and lows of his stunning career and remarkable life.

Backstage with Barrymore is a documentary film about the re-creation of an incredible piece of theatre history. Cameras wererolling as Plummer and the production team prepared Barrymore for the stage of Toronto’s Elgin Theatre. The film offers complete access to the entire process, interviews with the people responsible for this epic adventure in theatre and film, and includes interviews with Plummer’s favorite leading ladies: Julie Andrews, Helen Mirren and Zoe Caldwell.